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Electric Bass
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10132&t=35149		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Electric Bass
For my challenge build I'm going to be building a bass guitar. I don't play bass, but one of my friends does. He is the reason I play at all. He has helped tutor me and has really taught me most of what I know on the guitar. I thought I'd build this as a surprise for him as a way to say thank you. He won't know about it, until the instrument is complete, and it will be him playing it in the completion video.

I have some figured maple I picked up at the local hardwood supplier. One of the guys that works there had some figured stuff stashed behind the pallets of wood. Good to make friends with that guy. The maple will be for the neck. The body will be walnut. I'm not sure if it's going to be solid walnut or alder, capped with walnut. We'll see.

The friend I'm building the bass for currently plays a Fender P bass, with a Jazz pickup Frankensteined into it. I am going to try to wind my own pickups on this build as well. I made a pickup winder a few months ago, so this will be its maiden voyage.

Stay tuned.

Darrin
Author:  Chris Pile [ Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Definitely interested in your build since I am a bassist.
Keep us informed on your pickup winding adventure, too.
I've wanted to do that for over 2 decades.... maybe soon I will finally act on it.
Author:  Robert Renick [ Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Very cool Darrin. Which supplier did you use. Auburn delivers up here so I use them mostly. I believe that I got a bass pickup and neck rout template from the woodshop rocks shop if you would like to use it, it is way over here. We got 8/4 alder from Auburn, pretty nice and cheap.
Rob
Author:  Robert Renick [ Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Very cool Darrin. Which supplier did you use. Auburn delivers up here so I use them mostly. I believe that I got a bass pickup and neck rout template from the woodshop rocks shop if you would like to use it, it is way over here. We got 8/4 alder from Auburn, pretty nice and cheap.
Rob
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Robert, I used Auburn Hardwoods. I was there picking up some cabinet building supplies and just thought I'd ask. Was happy to find some curly maple without having to dig through the piles.

I ordered the bridge and the tuning machines...they will hopefully be here any day. They are from an Ebay store that I've never bought from, so we'll see how everything looks.

I've been milling up the prospective body wood. This is some walnut I bought several years ago when I bought my drum sander. The guy selling it had a stack of walnut that I bought for $100. It was about 70 bd feet, but much of it hasn't been very good due to cracks/checking. In fact, this piece had some cracks that I'm trying to work around. The figure is very nice in person, and the colors are just beautiful. So for body, this cap is about 1.33 bd feet, and I paid $1.43 per foot so that's $1.89. The tuning machines cost $21 and the bridge was $16. The maple for the neck/fretboard comes to about $4 if I comfortably estimate 3"x40" at $4.50 a board foot. Hopefully will be able to make some progress once I have the bridge in hand.

Darrin
Author:  Mike Baker [ Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Beautiful wood!
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Thank you Mike. It's always one of my favorite parts of working with wood. You know how when you take a rough, weathered piece of wood and clean it up and wet it with some mineral spirits to see the grain and color revealed for the first time. I love it.

Annnnnd...I just went to the post office and the bridge and tuning machines arrived. They look pretty good, and should work fine. Even better, I was wrong, the bridge wasn't $16, it was $12.87.

Now I can start really making some plans.

Darrin
Author:  Mike Baker [ Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Darrin D Oilar wrote:
Thank you Mike. It's always one of my favorite parts of working with wood. You know how when you take a rough, weathered piece of wood and clean it up and wet it with some mineral spirits to see the grain and color revealed for the first time. I love it.

I love that as well.

Darrin D Oilar wrote:
Annnnnd...I just went to the post office and the bridge and tuning machines arrived. They look pretty good, and should work fine. Even better, I was wrong, the bridge wasn't $16, it was $12.87.

Now I can start really making some plans.

Darrin

Yep. Now that you have the bridge, you're good to go.
Good luck. I've gotta get back to designing my entry.
Author:  alan stassforth [ Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Nice wood!
You got a good deal on the hardware,
and the dog is really cute!
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Thank you Alan. That is Luna. We have two of them. Her sister is Lexi. They are 8 month old boxer/doberman cross. Very cute, and they love being in the shop with me. And dragging out the foam floor tiles and chewing on them.

Darrin
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Fri May 11, 2012 10:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
I guess it's time I get going on this build again. I'm in the middle of moving my office, as well as a big (for us) BBQ competion coming up. I did make some progress in the last couple of days on the bass though.

After drawing up some front and side view plans, I've got a template made for the body. Last night I resawed the wood that will be on the front of the guitar. I was going to use a big piece of 8/4 sapele for the back until I remembered this is a "Local Wood" challenge. So off to get some alder today at lunch.
Attachment:
resaw.jpg

Attachment:
bookmatch.jpg

I also picked out some neck material, ripped it to width, cut the scarf joint on the bandsaw and cleaned it up on the belt sander. Then I got it all glued and clamped and let it sit until this morning.
Attachment:
neck.jpg
Attachment:
scarf cut.jpg
Attachment:
scarf glue.jpg
Attachment:
neck2.jpg
Attachment:
mockup.jpg

Hopefully I'll make some decent progress over the weekend. Tonight after work, I'm going to make a slotting box/fret slot template, resaw the fretboard and possibly glue up the body blank. I'm hoping to have the whole thing done within a week. We'll see.
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Tue May 15, 2012 8:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Got some more work done this weekend. I built a crosscut jig and made a fret slotting template out of a 4 ft aluminum ruler. Got the fret slots sawed. I sure hope they're accurate. :)
Attachment:
fretboard resaw2.jpg

I was also able to joint the alder body blank using my router table and a sanding style jig that I made. I have a huge old Crescent Jointer, but I have to get the tables aligned and that's an all day job. This worked, it just took more time than just running it across the jointer knives would have.
Attachment:
body blank.jpg

I got the walnut cap cut out and routed with the template and everything sanded to thickness.
Attachment:
mockup2.jpg


I got some more done this morning but I dont have pictures to post yet.
Author:  Robert Renick [ Tue May 15, 2012 11:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Go Darrin Goooooo. bliss Some nice looking wood.
I like to build like this too, I want to start and finish with a few weeks, I can't do the multi month builds, it would make me crazier then I already am.
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Tue May 22, 2012 6:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Having the due date looming lit a fire under my butt that's for sure Robert.

A little more progress. At least it's starting to look like something now.

Darrin
Author:  alan stassforth [ Tue May 22, 2012 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Lookin' good!
What finish you gonna use?
Better get the lead out, buddy!
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Wed May 23, 2012 12:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
I haven't entirely decided what finish...possibly tru-oil.
Author:  Mattia Valente [ Wed May 23, 2012 3:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
Darrin D Oilar wrote:
I haven't entirely decided what finish...possibly tru-oil.


TruOil should look great with these woods. I love oil finishes on basses and certain types of electrics - sadly my aesthetic sensibilities want lacquer type finishes for the kinds of electric guitars I usually build or it's all I would do :)
Author:  Darrin D Oilar [ Wed May 23, 2012 11:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Electric Bass
I love Tru-Oil too. It seems to hold up pretty well, easy to apply, smells pretty good in my opinion, and really looks beautiful.

Any suggestions for pore fillers that work well with Tru-Oil?
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